Week 2: God's Blessing of Physical Wholeness for Grandparents: Lesson 1, Week 2 Our Bodies Are The Temple of The Holy Spirit

Scripture for the week:

But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. 

Isaiah 40:31 NIV

Lesson 1, Week 2:  Our Bodies Are The Temple of The Holy Spirit

Today’s Scripture Focus:  But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.

*Before you begin, ask the Holy Spirit to teach you as you read and study God’s Word and seek His meaning.

While rummaging through some items I had in storage, I happened upon a small box filled with memorabilia from my youth.  The box was nothing out of the ordinary, but the contents within made it special to me, for they represented a treasure trove of memories from my youth.

In 2 Corinthians 4: 7, Paul tells us we Christians, have a treasure in clay pots.  “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

 (Read entire passage:  2 Corinthians 4:7-16)

What is the power within us that is our treasure? 

Two passages in 1 Corinthians give us some insight: 

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?  If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.  

1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (NIV)

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own, you were bought at a price.  Therefore honor God with your body.

 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NIV

But how do we know that the Holy Spirit indwells us?  Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to indwell believers, and He is faithful to keep His promises.  

If you love me, you will obey what I command.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth.  The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him.  But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.  John 14:15-17 NIV

In truth, there have been three time frames of the Holy Spirit’s empowering.  In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit came upon men to enable them to do some task that God had called them to do (Numbers 11:25, Joshua 1:5).  In the time when Jesus lived upon the earth, the Holy Spirit’s presence was with man as Jesus lived and ministered upon this earth (John 1:32-33).  Then from Pentecost on, we see the Holy Spirit living within man and empowering them to do the work that He had called them to do (Acts 2:4) 

Think On These Things

The power within us that Paul is referring to

is ______________, which __________ promised to send to live within each _____________. 

What will the power of this treasure enable us to do?________________________________________

If we have accepted Jesus as our Lord, we believe by faith that God, in the form of the Holy Spirit, lives within each believer.  Therefore our bodies become a ___________for _______________.

If my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, how does my faith in Him renew my strength?_________________
___________________________________________

Is 2 Corinthians 4:16 referring to a physical or spiritual renewal or both?____________________________

How would being spiritually renewed affect me physically?

What I Have Learned

1.                  If I am a Christian, my treasure within is ___________.

2.                  The power of this treasure will enable me to ____________________.

3.                  I must care for my physical and spiritual well-being for my body is a __________for________

            ________  _____________.

I Will Apply What I Have Learned

STEP 1:  I will apply what I have learned by speaking statements of affirmation.

1.      The Holy Spirit lives within me. 

                                            1 Corinthians 6:19-20

2.      The Holy Spirit is renewing my strength.

                                                  Isaiah 40:31

3.      I am not alone, for Jesus has sent the Holy     

Spirit to be with me as my Helper. 

                                          John 14:16-18

Create your own affirmation statements from the Scriptures and repeat them several times a day—this is claiming the Scriptures as your own.

STEP 2:  I will renew my physical energy by being disciplined to start some type of physical exercise program.  I will do this by spending time in prayer and Bible study, allowing the Holy Spirit to renew me

spiritually and motivate me physically.

STEP 3:  I will share with my children and grandchildren what I have learned. 

a. Choose one of following analogy of the Triune God to share with your loved ones.

WATER--The Triune God can be likened unto water, which can be in three forms: liquid, steam, or ice. The Triune God can be in the form of God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

LIFE ROLES—The Triune God can be likened unto a woman who has three roles:  wife, mother, and friend.  The Triune God can be in three forms, too:  God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit that indwells man.

b. In my daily life, I will apply what I have learned with my family.  As I care for plants, I will take the opportunity to point out to my love ones that the sunlight and the watering of my plants are constantly renewing the roots where we can’t see.  This causes them to be renewed physically, producing their blossoms. 

Lord,

Thank You for sending the sweet Holy Spirit to live within me and be my helper.  Thank You for the gift of prayer and for Your Word, so that I may walk in Your way and constantly have my physical strength restored as well as my spiritual strength.  Thank you that the same power which raised Christ from the dead is available within my life, through the power of the Holy Spirit.